British Jewish actor and comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen expressed outrage at the headline of the British television network BBC surrounding the disaster in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, where 12 children were murdered by a rocket fired by Hezbollah. He shared on his Instagram story a post on X by the former speechwriter Aviva Klompas in which she wrote "disgusting" in response to the BBC headline.
The original headline read, "Eleven dead in rocket attack on Israeli-occupied Golan." Sacha Baron Cohen shared the correction of the headline, which read "murdered by Hezbollah" instead of "died." In addition, the words "occupied Golan" were deleted, and "children playing soccer" was written in its place so that Klompas's amended sentence - and Baron-Cohen who shared it - is now "12 murdered by Hezbollah rocket attack on Israeli children playing soccer."
The victims of the Saturday evening attack were between the ages of 10 and 16. Crowds, including elected officials, accompanied the victims of the disaster to rest at their funerals.
The victims, whose names were allowed to be published are: Fajr Laith Abu Saleh (16), Amir Rabi Abu Saleh (16), Hazem Akram Abu Saleh (15), John Wadie Ibrahim (13), Azal Nashat Ayub (12), Finis Adham Safadi (11), Yazan Naif Abu Saleh (12), Alma Ayman Fakhr al-Din (11), Naji Taher Halabi (11), Millar Maadad al-Shaar (10) and Nazem Fakher Saeb.
Cohen's previously speaking out against antisemitism, anti-Israel biases
Cohen, in the past, has spoken out against anti-Israel biases and antisemitism. In November, he said that TikTok, known for its large amount of anti-Israel content, is "creating the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis."
Cohen does not appear to be active on the social media platform. Around the time of his statements about TikTok, he told The New York Times that the app could “flip a switch” to better counter antisemitism.
Jackie Hajdenberg/JTA contributed to this report.